The night before the Battle of Antietam, the Union First and Twelfth Corps crossed Antietam Creek and marched onto farm fields near the Joseph Poffenberger Farm. On the foggy morning of September 17, 1862, both armies prepared for the deadly struggle that soldiers knew was coming. At dawn, artillery and musketry sounded through the fog as the First Corps, commanded by Gen. Joseph Hooker, opened the battle and advanced toward the fighting in the Cornfield, one-half mile to the south. Early that morning, Confederate cavalry commander Gen. J.E.B. Stuart placed more than a dozen cannon on Nicodemus Heights, three-quarters of a mile southwest, and Maj. John Pelham directed their fire. As Union soldiers moved out of the North Woods and across open ground toward the Cornfield, Pelham's guns devastated them with shot and shell.
